Hydraulic reversing gear devices for marine internal-combustion engines



ME y 1967 MECHISUKE NAGASAKI 3 9 HYDRAULIC REVERSING GEAR DEVICES FORMARINE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed June 4, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 1Fig. l l 8 17 41 32 133 35 ATTORNEY? April 1967 MICHISUKE NAGASAKI 3HYDRAULIC REVERSING GEAR DEVICES FOR MARINE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES4 Sheets Sheet 2 Filed June 4, 1964 AW M, 3967 MICHISUKE NAGASAKI 39 9 7HYDRAULIC REVERSING GEAR DEVICES FOR MARINE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINESFiled June 4, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 i 11, 1967- MICHISUKE NAGASAKI3,313,171

HYDRAULIC REVERSING GEAR DEVICES FOR MARINE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINESFiled June 4, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 fe W a .Sz 1?) KM 1 5M424 m 021%ATTORNE United States Patent M 3,313,171 HYDRAULIC REVERSE; GEAR DEVICESFOR MARINE IVTERNAL-COMBUSTIGN ENGENES Michisulre Nagasaki,Toyonaka-shi, Japan, assignor to Tadao Yamaoka, Asiiiya-shi, Japan FiledJune 4, 1964, Ser. No. 372,465 Claims priority, application Japan, June7, 1963, 38/422,956; July 18, 1963, 38/323,815 2 Claims. (Cl. 74-377)This invention relates to hydraulic reversing gear devices for marineinternal-combustion engines.

Generally with marine engines, since the time for ahead operation is byfar longer than that for neutral or astern operation, it is verydesirable that as many as possible of the sliding parts in the reversinggear involve no relative speed during the ahead operation to eliminatewear of the parts and thereby to prolong the service life of the gear.

Moreover, with previous reversing gear devices with a reduction gearing,it is known that various manufacturing difficulties are caused to makethe product excessively costly as the horsepower involved increased requiring increased capacities of the ahead and astern clutches and thereduction gearing.

The present invention is designed to eliminate these deficienciesinvolved in conventional reversing gear devices and has for its objectto provide a highly durable and compact reversing gear device.

The present invention relates particularly to hydraulic reversing geardevices of the clutch type including friction discs and a shaft forahead operation and friction discs and a tubular shaft for asternoperation. According to the present invention, the ahead shaft is formedwith axial passage means for feeding oil under pressure to hydraulicahead and astern pistons arranged coaxially on the ahead shaft. Withthis arrangement it has been found that during ahead operation therelative speed between the apertured portion of the ahead shaft and theassociated apertured sliding portion of the hydraulically operatedpiston-carrying member can be reduced to zero to minimize the wear ofthe sliding shaft portion as well as the internal-bearing surface of thepiston-carrying member and hence to effectively extend the service lifeof the parts. It will be understood that any desired number of suchahead-and-astern clutch units can be arranged in meshing engagement witha reduction gear wheel mounted on the propeller shaft depending upon theengine horsepower.

According to the present invention, there is provided a hydraulicreversing gear device for a marine internalcombustion engine whichcomprises: at least one aheadandastern clutch unit including an aheadshaft carrying a clutch output pinion, an ahead and an astern clutchboth arranged in encircling relation to said ahead shaft, a tubularastern shaft arranged between said ahead shaft and said astern clutch, areversing intermediate gearing associated with said tubular astern shaftand including another clutch output pinion mounted thereon, and ahydraulic clutch actuator device slidably fitted over said ahead shaftbetween said ahead and astern clutches and a forward and a reverseincluding piston for actuating said ahead and astern clutches,respectively, said ahead shaft being formed with a pair of axialpassageways for directing oil under pressure to said forward and reversepistons of said clutch actuator device, respectively; and a common gearwheel mounted on the propeller shaft and held in engagement with saidclutch output pinion on said ahead shaft and the one in said reversingintermediate gearing; said ahead and astern clutches and said clutchactuator device being secured to each other so as to be rotated aboutthe axis of said ahead shaft as an integral 3,313,171 Patented Apr. 11,1967 assembly under drive from the engine output shaft so that duringahead operation the relative speed between said clutch actuator deviceand said ahead shaft is maintained at zero.

According to the present invention, the common gear wheel is requiredonly to have a capacity corresponding to that of a single clutch unit,thus enabling the entire reversing gear device to be made extremelycompact. Also, assuming that the ahead-and-astern clutch has a capacityof 200 horsepower per unit, two or three of such units can be used incombination with each other for 400 HP. or 600 HP. engines,respectively, and the combined units can employ identical parts to makethe assembly inexpensive. Further, with the reversing gear device havinga reduction gearing, it is now possible to arrange the propeller shaftand the engine crankshaft in axial alignment with each other.Particularly, where the reversing gear device includes a plurality ofsuch clutch units, the engine can be operated without hitch even whenone of the clutch units gets out of order if only the defective unit istaken away.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the following description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of one embodiment of theinvention which includes one reversing clutch unit;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the another embodimentemploying two reversing clutch units;

PEG. 3 is a sectional View taken through the reversing intermediategearing of the device; and

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view of still another embodimentemploying three reversing clutch units.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. 1 to 3, the enginecrankshaft 1 carries a fly wheel 4 at its end, to which is secured acoupling member 2 by means of retainer bolts 5 secured to the fly wheeland, through the intermediary of regularly spaced-apart resilient rubberbushings 3, to the coupling member 2. The forward or ahead clutchincludes a casing 6 having a splined portion 8, an alternate arrangementin the casing of sintered abrasive plates or discs 10 and wear plates ordiscs 9 of steel. The wear plates 9 are held in engagement with thespline formation on the casing portion 8 while the sintered plates 10are in engagement with respective splines 11 formed on an ahead shaft12, on which the ahead clutch is mounted.

Reference numeral 13 indicates an oil inlet aperture formed in an endclosure, through which oil under pressure is supplied to the ahead shaft12 for ahead operation. As illustrated, clutch actuator device isarranged on the ahead shaft in adjoining relation to the ahead clutchand has formed therein a chamber 17 to receive an ahead actuator piston18.

The aperture 13 communicates with the piston chamber 17 defined in theclutch actuator device by way of an axial passageway A formed in theahead shaft, a radial bore 15 formed therein and a diagonal passage 16formed in the body 23 of the clutch actuator device.

A pinion 19 for ahead operation is mounted on the ahead shaft 12 andheld in engagement with a reduction gear wheel 20 mounted on thepropeller shaft 21, which carries a coupling member 22.

As illustrated, the body 23 of the clutch actuator is formed to supportpistons 18 and 30 on its opposite sides and is axially bored to beslidably fitted over the ahead shaft 12 in sealing relation thereto.

Reference numeral 25 indicates another oil inlet aperture formed in theend closure member, through which oil under'pressure is supplied to theahead shaft for astern operation. As illustrated, the aperture 25communicates with another piston chamber 29 defined in the clutchactuator by way of an annular passage 26, an axial passageway B and aradial bore 27, all formed in the ahead shaft 12 in communication witheach other and a diagonal passage 28 formed in the body 23 of the clutchactuator.

The clutch unit illustrated also includes an astern clutch which iscomprised of a casing 31 having a splined portion 32 in engagement withWear plates 33 of steel. The astern clutch also includes sinteredabrasive plates which are in engagement with a tubular astern shaft 35by way of a splined formation thereon.

Mounted on the tubular astern shaft 35 is a clutch output pinion 36,which is in meshing engagement with an intermediate gear 37 (FIGS. 2 and3). The gear 37 is formed integral with an intermediate pinion 38, whichis in mesh with the reduction gear wheel 20 mounted on the propellershaft 21.

Referring to FIG.1, the ahead shaft 12 is also formed with an axialpassageway C for directing lubricant oil for the purpose of minimizingfriction loss and heat generation while the friction plates are idling.The engine output power is transmitted by way of the coupling 2 to theinput shaft of the reversing gear indicated at 39 in FIG. 1 and furtherthrough a pinion gear 40 mounted on the input shaft to a cooperatinggear wheel 41 formed about the periphery of the body 23 of the clutchactuator device. The ahead and stem clutches have their respectivecasings 6 and 31 secured integrally to the actuator body 23 by boltmeans.

During ahead operation, oil under pressure is directed through the inletaperture 13 formed in the closure member at the end of the ahead shaft12 into the adjacent chamber 14 and thence flows through the axialpassage way A and radial bore 15 formed in the ahead shaft 12 andthrough the diagonal passageway 16 into the chamber 17 defined in theclutch actuator to act upon the forward piston 18 disposed therein sothat the steel wear plates 9 and sintered abrasive plates 10 arranged inan alternate fashion are pressed against each other.

The rotation of the engine crankshaft is transmitted through the clutchactuator to the ahead shaft 12 by way of the spline connection betweenthe casing 6 of the ahead clutch and the wear plates 9 therein to causerotation of the clutch actuator, ahead clutch and ahead shaft as anintegral assembly. Consequently, the propeller shaft 21 is rotated in aforward direction through the pinion 19 on the ahead shaft and reductiongear wheel 20 in mesh therewith to drive the propeller (not shown) in aforward direction by way of a shaft (not shown) secured to the coupling22.

During astern operation, oil under pressure is directed through inletaperture 25, annular passage 26, axial passageway B, radial bore 27 anddiagonal passage 28 into the chamber 29 defined in the body 23 of theclutch actuator to act upon a reverse piston 30 disposed therein so thatthe steel wear plates 33 and sintered abrasive plates 34 are pressedagainst each other. Consequently, the astern clutch casing 31 secured tothe clutch actuator is rotated through the splined connection to rotatethe tubular astern shaft 35. The rotation of the astern shaft 35 causesrotation of the propeller shaft 21 through meshing engagement betweenthe pinion 36 on the astern shaft and intermediate gear wheel 37 andthat between pinion 38 integral with wheel 37 and reduction gear wheel20. On this occasion, the rotation of the propeller shaft is in areverse direction and causes reverse rotation of the propeller, aswillreadily be observed.

As apparent from FIG. 2, this embodiment includes two identical clutchunits arranged on the opposite sides of the propeller shaft 21 so as tobe driven from the input shaft 39 of the reversing gear device throughrespective gear wheels 41 and 41' meshing with a common pinion 40, whichis mounted on the input shaft 39. With this embodiment, therefore, thereversing gear device has a total capacity twice asihigh as that of eachclutch unit.

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment in transverse cross section whichincludes three identical ahead-andastern clutch units each constructedin the same manner as described in connection with the first embodimentshown in FIGS. 1 to 3. The present invention may also be embodied toinclude more than three such ahead-andastern clutch units.

Though a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed herein, it to be understood that the invention is not to berestricted to the features set forth but many changes and modificationscan be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A hydraulic reversing gear device for an internal combustion engine,said device comprising an input shaft; a first clutch shaft parallel tosaid input shaft; a first clutch output pinion fixed to said firstclutch shaft; a tubular second clutch shaft mounted over said firstclutch shaft; a second clutch output pinion fixed to said second clutchshaft; a forward and reverse clutch assembly rotatably mounted over saidfirst clutch shaft and adapted to selectively drive said first clutchshaft and said second clutch shaft; gearing means operatively connectingsaid clutch assembly and said input shaft; an output shaft coaxial withsaid input shaft; a common gear wheel fixed to said output shaft andoperatively connected to said first clutch output pinion; and areversing intermediate gear operatively connecting said second clutchoutput pinion to said common gear wheel.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said clutch assembly includes anactuator device slidably fitted over said first clutch shaft andincluding a forward and reverse piston for coupling said input shaft tosaid first clutch shaft and to said second clutch shaft, respectively; apair of axial passageways being formed in said first clutch shaft fordirecting oil under pressure to said pistons.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,464,538 3/1949Vanderzee 74-377 MARK NEWMAN, Primary Examiner.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Examiner,

H. S. LAYTON, Assistant Examiner,

1. A HYDRAULIC REVERSING GEAR DEVICE FOR AN INTERLA COMBUSTION ENGINE, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING AN INPUT SHAFT; A FIRST CLUTCH SHAFT PARALLEL TO SAID INPUT SHAFT; A FIRST CLUTCH OUTPUT PINION FIXED TO SAID FIRST CLUTCH SHAFT; A TUBULAR SECOND CLUTCH SHAFT MOUNTED OVER SAID FIRST CLUTCH SHAFT; A SECOND CLUTCH OUTPUT PINION FIXED TO SAID SECOND CLUTCH SHAFT; A FORWARD AND REVERSE CLUTCH ASSEMBLY ROTATABLY MOUNTED OVER SAID FIRST CLUTCH SHAFT AND ADAPTED TO SELECTIVELY DRIVE SAID FIRST CLUTCH SHAFT AND SAID SECOND CLUTCH SHAFTF GEAREING MEANS OPERRATIVELY CONNECTING SAID CLUTCH ASSEMBLY AND SAID INPUT SHAFT; AN OUTPUT SHAFT COAXIAL WITH SAID INPUT SHAFT; A COMMON GEAR WHEEL FIXED TO SAID OUTPUT SHAFT AND OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST CLUTCH OUTPUT PINION; AND A REVERSING INTERMEDIATE GEAR OPERATIVELY CONNECTING SAID SECOND CLUTCH OUTPUT PINION TO SAID COMMING EAR WHEEL. 